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Arsonists, yes. But are they terrorists? By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer EUGENE, Ore. - Their guilt isn't in question. The six men and four women already admitted being involved in a series of arson fires that did $40 million in damage to research facilities, a ski resort and other businesses in the West. But are they terrorists as the government says? A federal judge was set to hear arguments Tuesday on a motion by the government to add a so-called terrorism enhancement to their sentences. Prosecutors want Judge Ann Aiken to declare the group terrorists — something defense attorneys...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) has stepped up its pursuit of a deal to buy Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), two newspapers reported on Friday, as the two companies re-enter talks to strike a deal and fend off a common competitor in Web search leader Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) Yahoo shares jumped 17.96 percent to $33.24 in Nasdaq trading on Friday, while Microsoft shares fell 1.26 percent to $30.58. The two companies have held informal talks over the years, but the latest approach comes as Microsoft seeks a deal to counter Google's rapid growth. "It's...

The work of a stay-at-home mother has an annual monetary value of $138,095, up 3 percent from last year, according to a survey out today. Those are some findings from the seventh annual Mom Salary Survey issued by Salary.com, a Waltham compensation software and consulting firm. YOUR VIEW: How much are stay-at-home moms worth? If paid the salary of the equivalent work that a stay-at-home mother performs, a woman would earn $138,095, the company said. And if a working mother regarded parenting as a second job, that second job would command an annual salary of $85,939; that's on top of...

John Edwards seemed to cherish the “Two Americas” idea in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election, where he and John Kerry eventually lost to current president George Bush. Strangely enough, the two Americas campaign buzzword managed to hit the nail squarely on the head. Unfortunately, two Americas do exist in this country. One of those Americas supports the government while the other receives from the government. People from one America work for a living, pay taxes and serve as productive members of our society, and people from the other America enjoy the rewards of under achievement and the entitlement...

Iraq: The Democrat-led Congress will hand President Bush a bill that requires troop withdrawals to begin this fall. Bush has said he'll veto it. Good. Now it's time for the rest of the GOP to denounce this charade. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said Bush is in a "state of denial" over the surge in Iraq. In fact, it's the Democrats who are in denial. The $124 billion pork-filled bill was scheduled for a vote late Wednesday. Whenever it's passed, the bill they present Bush will be vetoed. Though it's possible they'll be able to override the veto, it's...

TWO teenagers who wanted to experience murder told police it "felt right" to strangle a friend and bury her body in a shallow grave beneath her West Australian home. The 17-year-old girls, who cannot be named due to their age, today faced a sentencing hearing in Perth Children's Court after pleading guilty to murdering Eliza Jane Davis in the small coal mining town of Collie on June 18, 2006.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Two men from the Detroit area have been charged with spying for executed Iraq leader Saddam Hussein's intelligence service, according to federal court documents. Najib Shemami and Ghazi Al-Awadi were indicted for giving the former government information about its enemies in the United States, and were freed on $10,000 bonds each after appearing in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Tuesday.

After Imus, DeLay Calls for Rosie to Be Fired Wants Conservatives to Lead Anti-O'Donnell Push AOL (April 13) -- Fanning the flames of discontent sparked by the Imus controversy, former congressman Tom DeLay is making a plea for his fellow conservatives to get Rosie O'Donnell fired for recent remarks she made. Is Rosie the Next Imus? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosie vs. O'Reilly: The Feud Behind the Firing Calls? Rosie's Rant O'Reilly's Response -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sound Off at the Cooler: Did Rosie Cross the Line? "I'm calling for conservatives to take on Rosie O'Donnell," DeLay said during an interview with CNN. "She criticized...

MAMARONECK, N.Y. (AP) - Democrat John Edwards got a taste of low-wage life Wednesday, rising before dawn to help to dress, shave and deliver breakfast to elderly residents of a nursing home outside New York City. His visit was part of the "Work a Day in My Shoes" program sponsored by the influential Service Employees International Union, where presidential candidates spend time with health care workers to understand the challenges of their jobs. Edwards was paired with certified nursing assistant Elaine Ellis, an 18-year employee of the Sarah Neuman Nursing Home who escorted him on her early morning rounds. Ellis,...

The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation. At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its...

A short but rocky stint in federal politics is now over for Belinda Stronach. Stronach says she won't stand for re-election and is planning to return to the business world as executive vice-chairwoman of Magna International. Her father, Frank Stronach, is the founder and chairman of Magna. Stronach has made headlines consistently during her three year roller-coaster ride as as an MP. She garnered much media attention with her run for the leadership of the Conservative party, then again when she defected to the Liberals, in addition to stories about her romantic connections to Peter MacKay and Tie Domi.

Fred Thompson, the “Law & Order” actor and former senator from Tennessee, has moved beyond pondering a bid for the White House and begun assembling the nucleus of a campaign should he decide to run, according to people involved in the effort. Thompson has not yet decided to seek the Republican presidential nomination. But “he is getting more serious every day,” said an adviser familiar with Thompson's plans. Thompson’s coming-out as a candidate-in-waiting will be a May 4 appearance at the 45th annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of Orange County in the heart of Ronald Reagan country in Southern...

When my co-author Chriss Winston and I started to write our new book How to Raise an American, we both felt there was a “Patriotism Gap” between adults and children. Our impression was that kids today were not as patriotic as kids were in previous generations. A recent poll conducted by the Winston Group confirmed this (full disclosure: the president of the Winston Group is David Winston, husband of Chriss). The poll found that, while 97 percent of Americans say they are patriotic, 70 percent believe that children today are growing up less patriotic.Even while writing the book, we were...

CHICAGO — Darryl Stingley, a former New England Patriots receiver who was paralyzed after a hard hit during an NFL exhibition game nearly 30 years ago, has died. He was 55.

He wears Jesus' robes and a neon blue halo, looks like Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and is causing a stir at a Chicago art school. An undergraduate student's papier mache sculpture of Obama as a messianic figure - entitled "Blessing" - went on display Saturday at a downtown gallery run by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. By Monday, word of the piece had spread on political blogs, and the school had been flooded with calls. David Cordero, 24, made the sculpture for his senior show after noticing all the attention Obama has received since he first...

Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued in an effort to end the payments. But the ex-wife's attorneys argued Tuesday that the operation doesn't alter the agreement. Less than a week after commissioners in nearby Largo drew national attention by firing the city manager after he announced he was a transsexual, lawyers for Roach and his ex-wife grappled in another transsexual rights case that delves into relatively uncharted legal territory. Only a 2004 Ohio case has addressed whether or not a transsexual can still...

LEAK: Bush Veto Speech on Iraq Timeline Bill by Scott Ott (2007-03-28) — President George Bush will issue a rare veto in a nationally-televised speech within the next week according to the text of the address leaked to reporters today. The following are excerpts from a draft of the president’s TV script. PRESIDENT BUSH: My fellow Americans, in this folder on my desk is legislation that would pull our troops out of Iraq by March 2008, leaving that budding democracy to be ruled under Sharia law which treats goats better than it treats women, leaving this cradle of freedom in...

WASHINGTON - Monica Goodling, the Department of Justice official who said Monday that she'll invoke the Fifth Amendment rather than talk to lawmakers, is a frequent figure in department e-mails released so far as part of the congressional investigation into the firings and hirings of U.S. attorneys. Goodling, 33, is a 1995 graduate Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., an institution that describes itself as "committed to embracing an evangelical spirit." She received her law degree at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. Regent, founded by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, says its mission is "to produce Christian leaders who will make...

New Orleans residents arming themselves...

A decade ago, I was a convinced naysayer of global warming. I saw the global warming mantra as contrived propaganda to give global conspirators a reason to deploy draconian measures that they might not otherwise have enough support to deploy. (Ref.) However, as I became immersed in clean energy technology coverage, I became exposed day after day to what seemed to be solid scientific facts supporting the case that human-created CO2 and other greenhouse gases were indeed impacting the global ecosystem. I began accumulating these various evidences as I came across them into a Global Warming index page at FreeEnergyNews.com....